Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus capable of adding number information differing from copy set to copy set and user information indicating a current user to a printing target image.
Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-305671 discusses addition of number information differing from copy set to copy set to a printing target image in a case of printing a plurality of sets. When the number information differing from copy set to copy set is added, distributed printed documents can be tracked if a person to whom the printed documents are distributed (e.g., participants of a meeting) is recorded in association with the number of the printed documents.
Meanwhile, in recent years, it is known to add user information indicating a current user (a user having given a printing instruction, a user of a printing apparatus, etc.) to a printing target image. In this way, a person who has printed a printed document can be identified afterward from the printed document.
As described above, “number information differing from copy set to copy set” and “user information indicating a current user” are known as information that can be added to a printing target image, but it is not assumed to add both the number information and the user information, which are added for different purposes, to one image.
In a case of adding the number information and user information to one image, there is a possibility that the number information and the user information are added to the same position. For example, there may be a case where a top right area is selected as an area to which the number information is added and the top right is also selected as an area to which the user information is added, among a plurality of areas including the top right area, a bottom right area, a top left area, and a bottom left area of an image. In such a case, the number information and the user information overlap with each other at a predetermined position within the selected area, making both of the number information and the user information unrecognizable. Especially in a case where a person who is set to add the number information and a person who is set to add the user information are different, for example, a number information addition setting is made by a user of a printing apparatus and a user information addition setting is made by an administrator of the printing apparatus, the possibility increases that the same area is selected as an area to which the number information is added and also as an area to which the user information is added.